Looking for Signs of Spring
Okay, the end of January may be a little early to be looking for any signs of springs but I am so ready! There are two signs of Spring I look for each year and they generally happen within a week of each other: lazy circling turkey vultures over the canyon; and, manzanita blooming on the western mountainsides.
Turkey Vultures – an very ugly bird
While the turkey vulture is possibly the ugliest bird I have ever seen, a manzanita is, in my opinion, a most exquisite plant. I have seen manzanita grow to the size of apple trees (which maybe appropriate since the word “manzanita” is Spanish for “little apple”) but here in southeast Arizona they rarely grow larger then a VW bug. As you can see from these photos, the manzanita has smooth red bark and green leathery egg-shaped leaves. The inverted urn-shaped blossom is about the size of a dried split pea and grows in grape-like clusters. Each blossom will produce a dark red fruit (these origin of its name) containing one or more seeds. There is no fragrance that I can detect but I would say, this is a plant that needs none.
Manzanita – a bush of little apples
The manzanita has to be one of my favorite plants, right up there with dogwood and Mountain laurel. Although I have heard of some homoeopathic uses of manzanita, I can find no support to those applications. However, the manzanita is a delightful plant for ones garden. While I have no manzanita in my yard, “my garden” is a whole mountainside with dozens of this beautiful red and green bush covered in diminutive blossoms.
The dark red bark looks orange in the morning light. Notice the leathery oval leaves. Both the leaves and smooth bark help the manzanita survive the blustering summer temperatures.
The immature blossoms have a rich vibrant color that will pale as the mature until they are nearly white. The dogs like manzanita because the shade formed by its thick vegetation is so dark and cool.
